new skis!!!

After MUCH deliberation I finally decided on the Volkl Kiku 162s (137/106/122).

If you care why I chose them, please read below. If not, just look at the picture and know I'm going to be having a ridiculously awesome time with them.

So my current everyday ski (pretty much everyone who lives in the mountains has multiple pairs of skis depending on what type of skiing you're planning on doing and/or what the conditions on the mountain are) is a pair of Salomon Pocket Rocket 165s I bought for $100 because it was a good ski to get started on (as you may recall up until last season I was purely a snowboarder). Having moved up the curve with the help of friends who are awesome skiers I decided I needed* to get another pair of skis that allow for better shredding of the gnar.

The Kikus are a fat, rockered ski that adds a bit more stiffness (trait of Volkls in general) than the K2 Gotbacks and Line Pandoras I was looking at. I have the 'unfortunate' issue of being in between ski sizes so the next tough decision was what length to get. My choices were either 162 or 170-172. Since my height is 162 (all these #s are in cm) and I've dropped some weight since moving out here (I'm going to chalk that up to not sitting at a desk all day rather than the beer and burger diet) I decided to go a tad shorter and know that it just means I'll be more agile in the trees and on the bumps. This length is probably more appropriate for my size anyway as I took the usual path of learning something new (make it as challenging as possible and then everything else is cake) so I'm pumped to get out on these bad boys.

As far as bindings go I'm not 1000% committed yet but I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a pair of Marker Barons. Then I can skin up to better pow and for early morning fresh/exercise (yes, I enjoy walking up the mountain too).

Anywayyyyyy... it might be 75 degrees and sunny but I'm stoked for the season and to see how much better I can get on skis. The goal is to be able to charge through trees pretty quickly and ski moguls while looking like I've been skiing my whole life. Oh yeah, and NOT get injured... that'd be nice.

* the same way chicks in NYC and London 'need' another multi-thousand dollar handbag

soooo it's been a while...

Tons and tons of fun has been had this past month. The only reason I didn't share it is that I didn't have my camera cord to download picts (and all posts are much better with picts!).

The short version: tons of hikes, leaves are changing (and crazy yellow!), it's starting to get a bit cooler (temp-wise, though of course awesomeness is always increasing as well), oktoberfest fun, lots and lots of fun with Lucy (click here for a bunch of picts!) and friends!

Every once in a while I like to think about where I was or what I was doing a year ago, two years ago, and so on. Today I realized it has been a LONG freaking time since I was at home on this day... 2009: Indonesia (watching my first water buffalo sacrifice!), 2008: Tokyo (working crazy intense 18+hr days after Lehman filed for bankruptcy), 2007: Paris (I ran my now infamous 20-mile training run through the Bois de Boulogne which resulted in ITB injury and muscle imbalances I'm still fighting to neutralize), 2006: New York City (I got my UK Visa and was getting ready to move to London), 2005: Munich (Oktoberfest!). 2010: Vail (home, playing with Lucy)

eagle-vail trail of awesomeness

i heart this trail... it's beautiful, just the right amount of hilliness and right behind my house!

First of all, I am pumped out of my mind because I just ran the most efficient (i.e. good, relaxed yet strong form) run since... ummm... yeah... I can't even remember when! I was able to crank out about 6 miles and feel fine! My stride felt good (albeit a bit shorter than I can get it once my hip flexors sort themselves out), posture was good, breathing... good! (see, lots of exclamation marks... PUMPED!!!... !)

Now, I know better than to think my form will be like this permanently but man I hope so. At least I hope we're going in the right direction and this wasn't a fluke.

On another note, over the past 2 weeks I've noticed a change in scenery: the wildflowers are starting to disappear and some of the aspen leaves are beginning to turn a golden hew. Fall is definitely right around the corner and after Fall.... SKI SEASON!

some of my favorite photos

Bovec, Slovenia: The view from our guest house room as the clouds break

Those of you with Facebook have likely already seen this little compilation of photos but since not everyone has FB I'm posting the link to the album here too.

click here to see album

I love to take pictures. I've taken a bunch of them in my day but these are a few of them that I'm particularly fond of. Maybe it's the lighting, colors, the place, the sense of awe or the chance to capture another person's thoughts/emotions at the time. They're all different but I like them all and hope you do too!

P.S. This is only a subset of my favorites. I'll add more as I go through more photos (like I said, I've got tons) and take more...

P.P.S. None of these have been Photoshop-ed or edited in any way other than maybe being cropped. I don't believe in altering photos after they've been taken, I feel like it's no longer a photo but computer art (just my personal opinion!). I feel like it also makes you that much more psyched when it comes out well :)

10k @ 10,000 feet

Click on it to make it bigger

This definitely the most scenic race I've ever done. Not that I've done tons but it still counts! My hip flexors have been bugging me a lot lately and since I've become wiser I know I can't just keep running and have them fix themselves (sadly those days are gone :( ). So going into this race I hadn't really run more than a few times in the previous few weeks. I took an extremely nonchalant attitude into the race and ended up finishing in okay time for not really having run at all and having my hips hurt to the point I had to walk when I wanted to be running.

To set the scene for you I didn't even know what time the race started when I left my house to go run it :) Our internet hadn't really been working and I didn't know anyone else running it so I figured I'd just show up at 7:45am because the race shouldn't be starting before that. As I walked to the gondola (you take the gondola to the 'top' of Vail and start up there) I asked a dude who was decked out in hardcore trailing running gear what time the race started. He said you had to be up the gondola by 8:30 because it started at 9am... perfect! He was extremely surprised, yet not so amused, that I didn't even know when the race started (had I been in better form it'd have been my goal to beat him :) ).

The course is really cool yet pretty rough. It goes from the top of the gondola steadily downhill to Mid-Vail then back up next to the top of the gondola then up (and up) to the top of Chair 3. Only then do you actually get to go downhill again back to the top of the gondy. The views are incredible and the weather was ridiculous- literally not ONE cloud in the sky (and this is from the unobstructed view at 10,200 feet!). On the way to Mid-Vail we enjoyed views of the Gore Range and town of Vail. On the way to the top of Chair 3 it was ridiculously clear views of Holy Cross (the closest 14,000+ ft. peak) and wildflowers galore covering Game Creek Bowl.

Oh yeah, the day before I had decided it was a good idea to run up Paulies (I know there's a topo on here somewhere, I've done it before) :) So for the first half of the race I was actually feeling really good and strong (Paulies is a steep hike so compared to that it was cake) and then my muscles decided they were tired from running up a mountain the day before and it was pretty tough going after that. At about mile 4.5 my hip flexors started flaring up pretty badly and I was reduced to walking a section I would have rather run. (Note: Unless you are a super elite runner there is actually a lot of walking that takes place, more so at 10,000+ feet :) )

I managed to finish w/ a pretty good kick which is always leaves me feeling better about the race as a whole. Had the flexors not been bugging me and had I been able to run more the past few weeks I could have been below the 1h mark, but as it was I finished in 1:07:54.

Time: 1:07:54

Elevation (min/max): 10,127 / 10,937 ft

Trail Type: Mostly single-track, some dirt road

Scenery: Ridiculous. Worth making a trip out here to do the race just to check it out!

Swag Bag: WORST one ever! Fruit loops, Oreos, rice crispy treat (did a 6 year old pick out the stuff?!) And the t-shirt? I think everyone is giving it to their mother

How I Felt Overall: We'll give it a 6.5